A 16-year-old boy from a well-to-do Fort Worth family commits a quadruple vehicular homicide.  His attorneys will argue that his overprivileged upbringing resulted in him not knowing how to discern right from wrong. The term "affluenza" was coined to describe defendants like Ethan Couch - wealthy, spoiled and held unaccountable for their bad behavior. 

I'll also describe how this same defense was used in 1924 to defend the wealthy teenaged murderers Leopold and Loeb. 

#LeopoldandLoeb #CrimeoftheCentury #EthanCouch #Affluenza 

Several resources were used in the research for this episode including: 

Manny Fernandez, Richard Perez-Pena and Azam Ahmed, The New York Times, "Ethan Couch, 'Affluenza' Teenager, Had Last Party Before Fleeing," Dec 29, 2015. 

Michael J. Mooney, D Magazine, "The Worst Parents Ever," May 2015.  

American Experience, PBS Television, "The Perfect Crime: Leopold and Loeb". 

Supervisor Dan White murders San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk in 1978. His defense would claim "diminished capacity" to keep him from being sentenced to death. The media dubbed this "The Twinkie Defense". But, what really caused Dan White to become a double murderer?

From L to R: Supervisor Harvey Milk, Mayor George Moscone, Dan White

Several resources were used in the research for this episode including: 

John Geluardi, SF Weekly, "Dan White's motive more about betrayal than homophobia," Jan 30, 2008.

Carol Pogash, SFGate.com, "Myth of the 'Twinkie Defense', Nov 23, 2003. 

Three cases are outlined where a person commits murder and then blames the crime on sleepwalking. 

First up, Albert Tirrell murders his mistress in 1846 claiming he was in a trance-like state at the time. Kenneth Parks travels 23 km to commit a murder - all while asleep, he claimed. Finally, another man tries to use the sleepwalking defense after killing his wife in Phoenix, Arizona in 1997.

Several resources were used in the research for this episode including: 

Karen Abbott, Smithsonian.com, "The Case of the Sleepwalking Killer," April 30, 2012.

 Paul Rubin, NewTimes.com, "A Killer Sleep Disorder," Nov 19, 1998. 

True Crime Truant, "Scott Falater: Sleepwalking Killer Gets a Wakeup Call," July 20, 2017. 

Berit Brogaard and Kristian Marlow, Psychology Today, "Sleep Driving and Sleep Killing: The Kenneth Parks Case," Dec 13, 2012.